This invention pertains to a travelling pipe cutter particularly suitable for cutting heavy wall pipe and which utilizes an integrated gear box for drive of the machine around the pipe and for drive of the cutting tool and with the depth-of-cut being easily adjusted by positioning of the integrated gear box relative to a supporting frame having means for guiding the machine around the pipe.
A travelling pipe cutter which carries a slitting saw around a pipe is well known in the art. The Levey U.S. Pat. No. 2,291,395 shows such a device wherein a frame is held to a pipe by a pair of chains and a motor, carried on a frame, drives a feed drive shaft having sprockets engageable with the chain and a cutter drive shaft. In the structure of the Levey patent, the cutter drive shaft can be adjusted relative to the frame to vary the depth of the cutter. However, this results in relative movement between the feed drive shaft and the cutter drive shaft whereby a complicated drive train is required to interconnect the two drive shafts while permitting movement of one relative to the other.
Applicant's assignee manufactures a travelling pipe cutter having a pair of motors, with one motor driving the cutter drive shaft and the other motor driving the feed drive shaft for advancing the unit along a pipe. The adjustment of the cutter drive shaft to position the cutter relative to the pipe can be accomplished without any complicated drive train between the two drive shafts. However, the cutter drive shaft is mounted within its own housing which has complex mounting structure for adjustment of the cutting tool depth.